Oklahoma City Blue
The Oklahoma City Blue is an NBA Development League team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and the minor league affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The franchise began in Asheville, North Carolina, as the Asheville Altitude, and from 2005 to 2014 they were the Tulsa 66ers, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Franchise history The Asheville Altitude were a founding team of the NBDL in 2001. They played in the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, North Carolina, where they won two NBDL championships. The team's name was in reference to the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains. In 2005 they moved to Tulsa as the 66ers, named for the famous US Highway 66 ("Route 66"), which ran through Tulsa and once played a pivotal role in its economy. Upon moving, all of the team's hard assets were then sold to former Tulsa 66ers owner Southwest Basketball, LLC, which also owned the Albuquerque Thunderbirds and the Reno Bighorns. The team has one affiliate club in the NBA: the Oklahoma City Thunder. The New York Knicks were formerly an affiliate through the end of the 2007–08 season. On July 31, 2008, the 66ers announced that Clayton Bennett of the Professional Basketball Club LLC (owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder), had agreed in principle to purchase the 66ers, marking the third D-League team to be owned by an NBA team (the first two are the Los Angeles D-Fenders and the Austin Toros, owned by the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, respectively, and the most recent was the Reno Bighorns, now owned by Sacramento Kings).http://www.nba.com/dleague/tulsa/tulsa_okc_080731.html Under terms of that deal, they will be the OKC team's sole affiliate; former co-parent club the Milwaukee Bucks will now be affiliated with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.http://newsok.com/okcs-nba-franchise-buys-tulsas-d-league-team/article/3277505/?tm=1217566194 For the 2008–09 season, the team moved to the brand-new SpiritBank Event Center in nearby Bixby, but retained the Tulsa 66ers name.Glenn Hibdon, "Tulsa 66ers pro basketball team moving to Bixby", Tulsa World, February 12, 2008. After the 2008–09 season, however, the team announced it would seek another venue for the next season, and it filed a lawsuit against the owner of the arena.Mike Strain, "66ers' owners sue Bixby arena's owners", Tulsa World, May 31, 2009. The team moved to the Tulsa Convention Center in downtown Tulsa for the 2009-2010 season. During the 2010-2011 season, the team set a record for 14 wins in a row before being defeated by the Maine Red Claws 109-106 on January 30, 2011. At the end of the 2011-2012 season, the 66ers missed the playoffs with a 23-27 record. In May 2012 the 66ers announced that they would return to the SpiritBank Event Center for the 2012-2013 season, and the team also played there in 2013-2014. In June 2014, however, SpiritBank announced that it would no longer seek bookings or lease the arena space.Robert Evatt, "Big events no longer scheduled at SpiritBank Event Center in Bixby", Tulsa World, June 9, 2014. In July 2014 the Thunder announced that the 66ers would move to Oklahoma City. Management cited "circumstances beyond our control" stemming from stalled relocation attempts. http://www.news9.com/story/26055434/thunder-to-move-66ers-to-okc Season-by-season Current roster Affiliates *Chicago Bulls (2005–2006) *Dallas Mavericks (2007–2008) *Indiana Pacers (2005–2006) *Milwaukee Bucks (2005–2008) *New Orleans Hornets (2005–2007) *New York Knicks (2006–2008) *Oklahoma City Thunder (2008–present) Logos File:AshevilleAltitude.png|Asheville Altitude logo (2001–2005) File:Tulsa 66ers (NBA) logo.png|Tulsa 66ers logo (2005–2007) File:Tulsa66ersnew.PNG|Tulsa 66ers logo (2007–2009) File:Tulsa 66ers logo.svg.png|Tulsa 66ers logo (2009–2014) File:Oklahoma City Blue.png|Oklahoma City Blue (2014-present) Radio You can listen to the game on 105.3 The Pro (KINB). Ed Murray will be the Radio Play-by-Play. References External links *Oklahoma City Blue Category:NBA D-League teams